NORDIS WEEKLY
August 28, 2005

 

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Ms. Baguio tilt reels off amid Gabriela scorn

BAGUIO CITY (Aug. 25) — Despite an endorsement by the city council of a women’s groups’ complaint against the holding of the Ms. Baguio Pageant, the beauty tilt still pushed through.

Councilor Pinky Rondez, chair of the Committee on Social Services, Women and Urban Poor, said that measures would be taken to ensure that this year’s pageant would be done in good taste.

The city council on August 12 endorsed Innabuyog-Gabriela’s letter to Councilor Jose Molintas, chairperson of the Committee for the Search for Miss Tourism-Baguio, opposing the resumption of Ms. Baguio Pageant and challenging the city council to revoke City Ordinance No. 030 series of 1998, which Innabuyog-Gabriela believes is inconsistent with the new Gender Equality and Development Code of the city.

In her letter to Molintas, Vernie Yocogan-Diano, secretary-general Innabuyog-Gabriela reiterated that the scrapping of the Miss Baguio pageant last year by the City Council was highly commendable, manifesting utmost consideration of the wellbeing of our women in the City.

The women’s group said no major pageant has been promoted without corporate or individual sponsors, reaffirming our position that pageants are moneymaking schemes, and therefore reinforce the view that women are “objects” and “commodities”.

Despite your Committee’s claim that the event should not degrade or be an avenue for the exploitation of women, Diano said, this year’s pageant will only be a repeat of previous pageants displaying women in their skimpy outfits, inevitably exhibiting the contestants in degrading, humiliating or demeaning manner.

The letter also called the council’s attention to the prohibition of contestants who have been pregnant, or who have experienced childbirth, which the group sees, sends a disturbing and double standard sense of morality. The women are likewise worried that more and more women and men are trapped into joining pageants for financial opportunities and for the misconceived benefits from it like prestige and popularity.

“Baguio as a tourism destination is also the center of Education in the whole Northern Luzon. The Council should prioritize issues of protecting the rights and interests of its youth and students, especially women who comprise half of the student population,” Diano pointed out.

Screening for Ms. Baguio started in Aug. 13-15. Coronation Night will be on September 16, ending month-long activities that include swimwear, fashion show and vanity day, referred to by Gabriela as exploitative of the woman’s body. # via NORDIS


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